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THE REAL ALITO / CLAIMS & FACTS
An ultra conservative Samuel Alito exists beneath a White House and Conservative Republican smokescreen of claims and spin.
The facts reveal a right wing activist perhaps more conservative than Antonin Scalia, a history of legislating from the bench and a definitive conservative agenda which is reflected in his consistently conservative decisions.
The American Progress report separates the man from the myth and reveals a right wing conservative juggernaut.
Allen L Roland
The Alito Myths
American Progress Report / 1/10/06
by Judd Legum, Faiz Shakir, Nico Pitney
Amanda Terkel and Payson Schwin
Senators in yesterday's Supreme Court confirmation hearings for Samuel Alito were spinning myths about the type of nominee they would like to have, failing to recognize the actual man standing before them. But don't let the conservative senators fool you -- their statements that Alito will practice judicial restraint, will not have an agenda, and will decide each case on an individual basis if appointed to the Supreme Court don't hold water. Throughout his career, Alito has pushed a right-wing agenda and "could prove [to be] more conservative than Antonin Scalia" if approved to the Supreme Court.
CLAIM -- ALITO HAS SHOWN JUDICIAL RESTRAINT: Sen. Mike DeWine (R-OH):"Judges are not members of Congress, they’re not state legislators, governors, nor presidents. Their job is not to pass laws, implement regulations, nor to make policy. ... And, Judge, from what I’ve seen so far, you don’t need much reminding on this score." Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA): "I'm hopeful that his commitment to judicial restraint and to confining decisions to the law and the Constitution will shine through in this hearing."
FACT -- ALITO HAS A HISTORY OF LEGISLATING FROM THE BENCH: While on the federal bench, Alito has been more than willing to actively overstep judicial boundaries and overturn existing laws. Lawrence Lustberg, a criminal defense lawyer who has known Alito since 1981, described him as "an activist conservatist judge." In 1996, Alito was the sole dissenter in U.S. v. Rybar, arguing that Congress had no power under the Commerce Clause to ban fully automatic machine guns and demanding that "Congress be required to make findings showing a link between the regulation and its effect on interstate commerce, or that Congress or the president document such a link with empirical evidence." The majority sharply disagreed with Alito: "We know of no authority to support such a demand on Congress," which would require the federal government to "play Show and Tell with the federal courts." Even Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) had to admit that Alito "was legislating" in this case. Additionally, in the 2000 case Chittister v. Department of Community and Economic Development, Alito used his judicial position to "prevent the federal government from enforcing civil rights protections" by ruling that Congress overstepped its authority under the Fourteenth Amendment and therefore had no power to require state employers to comply with the Family Medical Leave Act.
CLAIM -- ALITO HAS PUT HIS PERSONAL VIEWS ASIDE: Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ): "Thus, even in your early 20s, it appears you were focused on the law as an independent pursuit, rather than using law to influence political ends."
FACT -- ALITO HAS PUSHED A CONSERVATIVE AGENDA: Alito's conservative politics -- going back to his days in the right-wing Concerned Alumni of Princeton group -- have appeared throughout his career. While applying for a job in the Reagan administration in 1985, Alito wrote that "the Constitution does not protect a right to an abortion" and while in the Solicitor General's office, he was able to "help advance legal positions in which [he] personally believe[s] very strongly." These assertions were Alito's personal views, not the views of his employer. While working in the Reagan administration, Alito strategically advised his employers how to push a right-wing agenda through the courts. In 1985, as an assistant solicitor general, Alito "urged the Justice Department to defend incremental state restrictions on abortion as part of a long-term strategy 'to advance … the eventual overruling of Roe v. Wade, and in the meantime, of mitigating its effects.'" Similarly, in 1984, Alito wrote that the U.S. attorney general "should be shielded from being sued for approving illegal, warrantless wiretaps on the grounds of national security." But, he knew that 1984 was not the right time to win his case and argued waiting for a "case involving a less controversial official and a less controversial era."
CLAIM -- ALITO HAS DECIDED EACH CASE ON AN INDIVIDUAL BASIS: Alito: "I had the good fortune to begin my legal career as a law clerk for a judge who really epitomized open-mindedness and fairness. ... He taught all of his law clerks that every case has to be decided on an individual basis."
FACT -- ALITO'S DECISIONS HAVE BEEN 'ALMOST UNIFORMLY CONSERVATIVE': Legal scholar Cass Sunstein noted that Alito's 41 dissents as an appeals court judge "are almost uniformly conservative. In the overwhelming majority of cases, he has urged a more conservative position than that of his colleagues." Knight Ridder also found a clear pattern in a review of Alito’s 311 published opinions on the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals: He has "seldom sided with a criminal defendant, a foreign national facing deportation, an employee alleging discrimination or consumers suing big businesses." Similarly, the Alito Project at the Yale Law School determined that while on the bench, Alito "has sought to move the law to achieve the broad philosophical purposes articulated in the memorandum he submitted in November 1985 as part of his application to become Deputy Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Office of Legal Counsel."
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